Long Sleeves
by Gage39
Summary: Billy Batson always wears long sleeves. Why? Short drabble. Rape of a child implied. Nothing graphic.


Long Sleeves

He'd always had the scars. Small cuts and nicks (far more than the norm for a child his age) littered his forearms while hand-size bruises were usually on his upper arms. Cigarette burns, which were usually painful the first couple of days and gone by the end of the week, had been applied so many times that he now had dime-sized scars up and down both his arms. And of course there was the time that the…bad thing had happened. His memory of that was rather fuzzy but he did recall the feeling of hands all over his body and the nausea that accompanied them as he tried to escape, rubbing his wrists raw as he struggled against the ropes and gag. His wrists had eventually healed but the scars had remained.

Even after Uncle Dudley took him in he still wore the same red sweater, refusing to roll the sleeves up, no matter how hot it got. But that summer Fawcett City hit record-high temperatures of 110+…and the air conditioning was broken. Billy's 8-year-old body couldn't handle all of the heat so he passed out. When he came to it was to find himself in the tub wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and Uncle Dudley pouring ice cubes on his head.

The two stared at each for a minute then Uncle Dudley said slowly, "I don't mind the scars, Billy."

That was all they ever said on the subject but that was all that _needed_ to be said. They never spoke of it again but Billy began making a conscious effort not to cover up his arms anymore unless he was going out in public. But then he was outed to the League and found himself spending more and more time as a human around the Young Justice team.

* * *

One day M'gann was sick and, as such, was freezing to death. Since it was the middle of summer (Billy really hated summer) they couldn't turn the heater on so she was piled up underneath several blankets but still shivering.

"Do you want my jacket, Miss M?" Billy offered, trying to be polite and hoping that she wouldn't accept his offer.

Unfortunately she did. "Thank you, Billy," she said as she struggled to sit up so she could put on the proffered clothing.

Billy smiled and said, "You're welcome," while he took it off.

She took it from his outstretched hand then gasped when she caught sight of his arms. "Billy, what happened to your arms?" she demanded, tears already welling up in her eyes.

"Nothing," Billy said defensively, already wrapping the offending appendages around himself. "Nothing at all. Shazam!" An instant later Captain Marvel stood there, looking slightly cross as he stated, "It's almost time for supper!" and ran for the exit.

* * *

Two hours later there was a knock on the door. Uncle Dudley raised a white eyebrow in surprise before setting down his newspaper and going to answer it. His other eyebrow quickly joined the first once he saw Robin, M'gann (who was leaning on Conner), Kid Flash, Artemis and Kaldur standing at his front door.

"Can we come in?" Artemis asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Dudley opened the door even wider and allowed them to enter before shutting it behind them. "Billy, you've got company!" he called.

"I'm not here!" a muffled voice called from one of the back bedrooms.

"If you're not here then who just talked to us?" Robin snickered.

"Come on out, Billy," Conner begged.

"Billy, just come on out," Dudley threw his two cents into the conversation.

"No," Billy said again.

"If he does not wish to talk to us then perhaps we should leave," Kaldur suggested.

"I'm coming in!" Kid Flash sang out and, before anyone else had time to say anything, quickly ran into Billy's room.

The boy sat up on his bed and glared at the young heroes now standing in his doorway. He was wearing another sweater that he had had hidden in his closet and his eyes were stained red.

"Billy, I'm sorry for reacting the way I did," M'gann apologized, having already analyzed the situation several times in her mind before coming to the conclusion that she had obviously offended the younger boy earlier.

"It's okay," he shrugged. "It's just a sensitive subject for me."

They fell into an awkward silence before Dudley intervened by asking, "Miss Martian, are you feeling all right? You are a rather interesting shade of green."

"Please sit," Billy cried, ricocheting off his bed and gently pushing her onto it. She tried to protest but was overridden by the rest of the group once Uncle Dudley mentioned having leftover chili.

Things were awkward between them for a while but eventually Billy came around and began leaving his jacket at home more often than not while they tried not to stare.

* * *

A/N: Not one of my better works I know but I had this stuck in my head and it wouldn't go away so here it is. Hope you liked. Please read and review.


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